A
Case Study of Removing the Cause of Anger
When there is no anger, how can we know? We
may contrast that with the moment of rage. When someone is furious, their voice
is harsh, their expression is sad, and their movements are jerky. Like the
elderly auntie described before.
According to Abhidhamma, the mind causes both physical intimation
(kayaviññātti) and verbal intimation (vaciviññatti). The term Viññatti refers
to the process of expressing one's thoughts. When the mind is pleased, the body
and verbal action are also pleasant. When the mind is dissatisfied, the body
and speech will be unpleasant. Of course, occasionally because of greedy
thoughts, the face will be joyful and happy.
The Buddha is said as the physician and
Dhamma is the medicine to cure disease. Now, we are applying Dhamma therapy to
her. After administering the remedy to her, she is happier, her voice is
softer, her face is more relaxed, and her movements are gentler. What is the best remedy to calm her furious mind? As previously stated, she had a few issues. 1. Tired and sleep deprived due to volunteer fatigue.
2. Unhappy when her beloved teenage niece was admonished by us.
3. Was unwilling to accept aid from others.
My senior nun and the chief nun of Aggācāra, Sayagyi Aggavati is good at counseling and problem-solving. I can assist her in
some way only as it is to do with Burmese people, Burmese life style and
culture.
To
solve the first problem, we let the old aunty sleep as long as she wanted. In this way, she can recover from her tired body
and mind.
Then, she contacted her neighbor and spoke with her for two hours,
informing her the problem and asked her to come and aid the old auntie.
When
the neighbor arrived, she came to help the aunti. She used sweet and polite voice and helped her to cook
the food. So this aunty’s mind is getting softer as she had enough rest, now
with assistance from a kind neighbor, her face was happy. The neighbor then sat
with her during her leisure time and spoke. The aunty had the opportunity to
talk to other persons, besides the children here and us sayagyis. She now
thrived in loving-kindness from the neighbor, and not feeling tired as tired as
before.
Actually,
it is a task to prepare breakfast for 8 people, lunch for 15 people lonely.
Now, with the neighbour’s help, the task is easier. The Burmese people need to
eat rice, there minimally must be a soup, a fish/meat, and some vegetables, and
also some fruits if we have. So, thanks to this old aunty and the kind
neighbor, we can provide the meals to the children here!
In short, when there are causes for anger, once we know it, we can try to
remove it with our best ability.
Dosa
(anger, hate) is one of the evil roots in Buddhism. Others include greed
(lobha) and delusion (moha). So it is important to be conscious of it because
when it becomes uncontrollable, individuals may engage in actions such as
scolding, striking, or even killing beings.
Mettā
is called adosa. The negative prefix 'a' implies both 'no' and 'free from'. So
adosa means "freed of anger/hatred," adosa is mettā (loving-kindness).
We use loving-kindness to reduce hatred and anger.
In her position, the greatest method to deal with her dosa (anger) is to employ
metta, which is a universal practice that we may perform at any moment.
So, do
contemplate your mind at any time. Try to make good minds like generosity, loving-kindness
arise more, and reduce greed, hatred and delusion.
